During the seventeenth century, the science of con chology received many important additions. Johnston, in the year 1657, published his Historia Waturalis de Exsunquinibus. Ile employs in this work the classifi cation of Aristotle, but divides the class Turbinata into two sections. The first section, In Anfractum Torte, includes the Nautius, Buccinum Murex ; and the se cond, In Orkin Circumacta, contains the Trochi Arent a, and a few others.
In 1616, Fabius Columna published his Aquatilium et Terrestrium aliquot Aninudium aliarumque Araturalium veruin Observationes. This work contains descriptions of several rare shells, with neat engravings. An edition of this work was published in 1675, by John Daniel Major, M. 1). This naturalist, in imitation separated the genera Le/ias and Balanus from the bi valves, and constituted them into a class by themselves, to which he gave the name of Phurvalvia.
Nehemiah Grew, in the year 1681, published his ca talogue and description of the natural and artificial rari ties belonging to the Royal Society of London, and pre served in Gresham College. We introduce this work, not so much w ith the view of mentioning that it was the earliest production of this kind which had appeared in an English dress, as of noticing the classification which he employed. To the divisions of shells termed uni
valves and bivalves, he added the class Multivalves, which Gesner had aimed at, and which Major had formed.
We close our account of the testaccological writings of the seventeenth century, with noticing the labours of our countryman Lister, a name deservedly held in high estimation by all the lovers of science. Lister com menced his great work on shells in 1685, which he Historia sive synopsis methodica Conchyliorum The plates which accompanied this edition were 1057 in number, and contained precise descriptions of the shells, with a reference to the place from whence the speci mens were brought. The plates vary in number and situation in other editions of this work, and appear to have been changed repeatedly by the author. The plates themselves were afterwards bequeathed to the University of Oxford, where they were republished, under the inspection of the Rev. William Huddcsford. This gentleman added two indices, the one connected with Lister's own distribution, and the other with the Linnxan arrangement.
Lister distributed testaccous bodies as follows: